webOS to me is reminiscent of the Martin Short character in the movie Pure Luck. In that movie, Short plays literally the unluckiest man alive. At one point in the movie, Short is asked to take a seat at a table with dozens of chairs. One of the chairs has been rigged to collapse, and Short is asked to pick any of the dozens of chairs in the room. He naturally picks the broken chair. webOS, from the very infancy of its life, always, ALWAYS, picked the broken chair. Seriously. Let's run this down, all chronological like. When it All Began First, before it even existed, webOS caused ...

Technically, the Mobile World Congress may finish-up tomorrow, but with all the big smartphone and tablet events over, we're calling it a wrap. We've had a great time the past several days bringing you news of all the new hardware and software companies came to the event to promote, and as we now begin to recuperate and get back to business as usual, we wanted to take a look back on MWC 2013 and everything it brought us. The week leading up to the MWC was filled with rumors, as we should expect, and while some played out, others fell flat on their faces. LG really got things started early, ...

Call me bitter, but I'm not happy. Anyone who ever had hopes of success for the awesome platform that never was likely has the same sour taste in their mouth. Originally developed by Palm (before it tanked, of course), webOS was easily one of the brightest mobile operating systems to enter the scene in 2009. Its interface was fresh, intuitive and gorgeous. Even the hardware was unique. (Personally, I loved the design of the original Pre, even though the keyboard was awful and the device itself was on the small side.) Fast forward four years and webOS has taken quite a beating. It has since ...

Watch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about all of our MWC 2013 coverage, which includes the newly-launched Galaxy Note 8. Then we move to Samsung's new HomeSync Android device and what it means to Galaxy devices. We later talk about Nokia and their new Lumia devices, which sadly underwhelm. Then it's HP talk, as they've now launched a new HP Slate 7 Android tablet, to the surprise of everyone. We end today's show talking about Samsung's press invites for their Unpacked Galaxy S IV announcement. All this and more after the break. Stories: - Complete MWC Hands-on coverage - Samsung ...

Seeing HP bring its Slate 7 Android tablet to the MWC started stirring up some old memories of the TouchPad in us. The glory days of webOS may be long gone, but many of us here were big fans of the platform, and even if its reincarnation as Open webOS wasn't about to bring us any new smartphones, it was still nice to see the project live on in one form or another. Well, the timing for that reminiscing couldn't have been better, as today news arrives LG is buying webOS from HP, and already has plans to integrate it in consumer electronics. While full details of the deal are still private, ...

Just because it's a new year doesn't mean things are changing with the Pocketnow Weekly podcast. We're still shaking up the host roster on occasion, and we're still squeezing more than 90 minutes of discussion out of the mobile-technology news sector, even in the pit of the post-holiday lull. On our first podcast of 2013, Joe Levi joins us to talk Android amid a sea of pre-CES leaks, but not before we dive into a long and detailed discussion about the new mobile version of Ubuntu - a platform we'll learn how to consistently pronounce someday, but not today. We also touch on Sailfish and ...

On the eve of the Mayan Apocalypse, three men gather to talk strategy, survival ... and smartphones. This week on the Pocketnow Weekly, we discuss what device we'd like at our side for the end of the world, before going for a quick dip in the nostalgia pool with a chat about running new Android software on old devices. After that, we knock around some Samsung Galaxy-family speculation, then dive headlong into a rundown of the merits and drawbacks of the new Samsung ATIV S, before touching on the tablet-smartphone interaction issue. Finally, we wrap it all up with some tablet speculation ...

Last week, we were doing some jawing on the Pocketnow Weekly podcast, debating the merits and pitfalls of the Surface RT. While we've done that on almost every episode of the Weekly since the release of Microsoft's first home-sourced tablet PC, we got more in-depth than usual on last week's episode and I encourage you to check it out. One of the topics we chewed over was that of the Surface RT's actual usability. I remarked that the Surface had so far proven to me more of a novelty than a productivity-enhancer. Despite my feeling that it is indeed a device from the future, I've recently ...

If you're anything like us you probably have Santa on speed-dial this time of the year but since everybody is busy sending him calls and texts you're better off relying on e-mail -- and your client's autocomplete feature which immediately kicks in to fill out his entire e-mail address. But what to ask for with so many great gadgets out this year? To tell you the truth we were happy when Santa contacted us for helping you make up your minds. We've put together a list of devices which you should consider this holiday season. Before you check it: it's not a list of the best devices out there ...

When you're coming down off a few weeks of huge news, there's a lot to sift through. On this episode of the Pocketnow Weekly, that's exactly what we're doing. Join Michael Fisher, Brandon Miniman, and -a first for the podcast- Chief News Editor Stephen Schenck for in-depth discussion on Apple's continuing iPhone 5 and iOS6 successes and failures, the latest in the annoyingly-named "mapplegate," HTC's new One X+ and One VX, speculation on the next Nexus, Nokia's terrifying new commercial aimed at the iPhone, and even a touch of webOS news. We changed up the order a bit this week, everyone, ...

HP did something pretty cool the other day: it delivered on a promise it made to webOS customers. I already mentioned, in yesterday's article about HP's Windows Phone destiny, why that alone is a newsworthy event. From casual customers to the top champions of the platform, webOS users were given one of the biggest raw deals in tech history when HP terminated all webOS development little more than a month after the release of its flagship product, in the midst of one of the strangest corporate shake-ups ever. HP still hasn't fully recovered from the accompanying (aborted) attempt to ...

Capping off a long stretch of misery and broken promises to devotees of its failed operating system, HP finally did right by webOS fans last week when it delivered Open webOS, the open-source version of the Palm-developed platform, just before its end-of-September deadline. Of course, it's not a mobile-friendly build that users can install on the TouchPads or Pre3s they might still have lying around; instead, it's a raw OS much in need of refinement before it can be made to work on a tablet or a smartphone. All that aside, it has in fact been delivered. That on-time delivery marks one of ...

Watch today's Pocketnow Daily as we discuss some of the earliest rumors of the Galaxy Nexus II, which would be the Samsung i9260. Then we talk about Apple's recent statement regarding the iPhone 5 pre-order sales along with AT&T's remarks on the launch. Then we go through some of the probable Windows Phone 8 features coming soon. HTC also made the news as we talk about the HTC Droid Incredible X sporting a 1080p screen and coming soon to Verizon. We end today's show talking about HP's possible comeback to mobile with a smartphone. All this and more after the break.

I don't know about you but for me, even after so many years of covering phones and tablets, a new device feels like Christmas, whether it is one I receive for review, one I purchase for myself, or one I happen to help someone else unbox and setup. Phone or tablet, regardless of make and model, platform or form factor, we all have our habits whenever we get a new gadget. My routine (whenever not doing a review) is: quick and dirty unboxing, fully charging it, go through the setup process, go through all of the elements in Settings and customizing according to my needs. So far so good. The ...

Depending on the operating system you use you might be able to tweak the lock screen of your phone in order to suit your needs. Aside from typical notifications for missed calls, text, e-mails, calendar appointments and such, some platforms (or skins running on top of it, if available) allow you to add all sorts of widgets to keep you informed at a single glance. Other operating systems barely allow you to change the wallpaper so this is pretty much the only thing which can make your phone stand out from the rest. We've recently seen all the great home screen layouts you're using and now ...

webOS didn't have an insanely huge number of fans but there definitely was a neat little community of enthusiasts, among which our own Michael Fisher, who never misses the opportunity to talk about the ex-Palm-ex-HP platform on our Pocketnow Weekly podcast (in the last episode we even talked about Open webOS). For those looking forward for the Open webOS platform to grace their current hardware comes a piece of bad news. From the official blog we learn that the platform will not offer support for existing hardware: "For Open webOS we are aiming for support on future hardware platforms ...

Wallpapers (live or static), widgets, tiles, and icons. Whether your platform of choice is Android, iOS, Windows Phone, or another one, alive or abandoned, we all strive to find that perfect combination of looks and functionality. Seeing as much information as possible (necessary) at a single glance is the most important thing for some, while others prefer a mild, pleasant look and feel of their home screen so that they can show that visual appeal off. Show us your home screen! Regardless of your platform powering your phone (or tablet, for that matter), snap a screenshot and post it ...

Judging from my editorials this month, you'd think webOS suddenly got exhumed from the grave. I've mentioned Palm's defunct operating system in a piece on new smartphone platforms, on Android multitasking, and in an editorial about what it means to own a unique phone. All in the past two weeks. That's a lot of exposure for an OS that's fallen by the wayside, but it's not just because I'm a former devotee of the platform. It's because that's the natural order of things when an OS is either taking its last few breaths or walking the path to open source (or both). Other OEMs are snapping ...

About a week ago, some smartphone news dropped that was either earth-shattering or completely irrelevant, depending on your point of view. It's my bet that most of our readers fall into the latter camp, as most of our coverage is devoted to the top three platforms in the mobile world. In fact, we didn't even run a story on this piece of news, so tangential was it to the modern mobile landscape. The news in question: the MeeGo platform isn't quite as dead as the world thought it was. Specifically, a team of ex-Nokia employees has leapt from the wobbly deck of the beleaguered phone ...

I was talking with Brandon Miniman the other day about the Android task switcher. Because that's the kind of conversation you have when you're a phone geek, and it's awesome. Anyway, we weren't talking about the modern Ice Cream Sandwich implementation, with the ribbon of cards and the dedicated multitasking button; we were talking about the Gingerbread-and-below multitasking approach. You remember the one: if you wanted to call up your last-used apps, you could hold down the home key, and a box containing them would appear. For a while, this box only contained four six of your most ...

A mobile phone's main characteristics, by definition, are the ability to make and receive phone calls as well as exchange text messages. A smartphone should be a phone that has the ability to run applications but these days it seems to be the other way around: a mobile computer that can also do voice calls. A recent O2 study shows that smartphone owners have at least four more important things to do on their smartphones than to place calls. According to the findings, people are using their smartphones for at least two hours every day, out of which more than half of that time is dedicated ...

Readers. Lend me your eyeballs a moment. You all visit sites like Pocketnow for a variety of reasons. Technology news, editorials, phone reviews; it's all part of the package sites like ours provide. A great deal of that coverage focuses on smartphones, and a huge percentage -everything but news, really- is opinion. We make a constant effort to minimize the subjective and enhance the objective where possible, but that's a hard thing to do. That's because mobile phones are intensely personal devices. We carry them everywhere. They're on our person at almost all times. There are waterproof ...

We've recently run a series of articles discussing the awesome features of certain mobile platforms, and how those highlights drive users to love them. We've covered Windows Phone, iOS, and Android, the platforms with the best combination of mindshare and potential, and today I thought I'd give a shoutout to a lesser-known (but immensely influential) player in the mobile space: webOS. If the details are hazy with the passage of time, here's a brief refresher. webOS was Palm's replacement for its legacy PalmOS, the platform that helped launch the smartphone and PDA revolution via the Palm ...

Those of you who've followed my writing for a while know that I'm a refugee from the Great webOS Collapse of 2011, and there's still a lot I miss and love about the platform. While I try to write about it as often as I can, the sad truth is there's not a lot of news about the "little OS that couldn't" these days - things are pretty quiet as it marches toward open source. So I'm kind of waiting along with everyone else for that to wrap up this fall. Until then, though, I'm still using webOS somewhat often via my HP TouchPad. Sometimes I even pull the tiny HP Veer out of storage and relive ...

Following last summer's announcement by HP that it was calling it quits on webOS, the company started selling remaining TouchPad stock at some fantastic discounts. That created a huge, new wave of interest in the tablet, and it quickly sold out. Over the following months, we saw HP make some additional units available from time to time, but after one final push on eBay, it looked like supplies had finally dried up. If you'd been wishing you snagged one of those TouchPads while you had the chance, you're in luck, as online retailer Woot has some for sale for today only; would you still be ...